


All Your Life

by the_lie_eternal



Category: Auf Streife
Genre: Accident, Angst, Blood, Comfort, Hate, Homophobia, Hospital, Hurt, Hurt/Comfort, Jealously, M/M, No Sexual Content, They are gay, Torture, here come the trigger warnings, nasty suff, oof, policemen at work, sequel of haven stay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-11
Updated: 2020-12-11
Packaged: 2021-03-10 23:27:23
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,076
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28015440
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_lie_eternal/pseuds/the_lie_eternal
Summary: It has been two years since Robin turned out to walk out of his gunshot-injury just fine. Maybe he and Florian could now finally live their lives in peace. Maybe.A sequel / continuation / Part 2 Fic of "Haven Stay".
Relationships: Robin Sturm/Florian Winter
Comments: 1
Kudos: 4





	All Your Life

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Haven Stay](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23557297) by [the_lie_eternal](https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_lie_eternal/pseuds/the_lie_eternal). 



> If you haven't read Haven Stay or simply forgot what it was about: Robin got shot in his right shoulder. The bullet splintered and left Robin in a coma for 13 days and with a sun-shaped scar wher his wound used to be. Robin and Florian are a couple ever since the happenings in Haven Stay.
> 
> Matteo Pilkc is an original character of mine and works at Inspektion 5.
> 
> Title and inspiration coming from "All Your Life (Haven Stay Pt.2)" by tAKiDA!

I stared out of the window of Florian's car, watching the rain splashing against the window. It was silent, my partner was focused on the road while I didn't really feel like talking to him either. He had all reasons to be angry at me but so did I, that's just how it had been for the past two years, ever since Florian confessed his feelings to me, ever since we became a couple and also ever since I moved in with him - more involuntary than desired this soon after we went into the relationship but we made it work. More or less, as the most recent fight of this morning gnawed at our nerves.

I was honest, the thing I wished for the most in this moment was Michael deciding to send my partner and me on separate patrols and not place us in the very same car.

No words were shared either as we stepped into the department next to each other, it hurt how silent it was inside of the locker room as we changed into our uniforms. I caught myself searching for Florian's eyes, trying to at least get a little bit of hold but the gaze he gave me in return made my shatter. He was mad, I wouldn't judge him for that but just a tiny bit of compassion would've been enough.

He left the room first, while I was still tying my shoes. I sighed, looking at the shift-sheet at the wall to check who was on duty at all.

_ "Weber, Breuer, Sturm, Grube, Sindera, (...)" _

I smiled as I read my best friend's surname, hoping that he would be the one going on patrol with me - yet every other colleague was fine by me too, as long as it wouldn't be Florian Winter.

"Rob and Flo, good to have you here finally, you get out on the street together. 15/20." Michael muttered, not even looking up from his mountain of stacked papers.

"Aye. Let's go, mate." Florian nodded, tapping my shoulder. His voice sounded more than just unappeased, yet still somehow glad, in a way. We only shared a look again as we sat next to each other in the silver BMW, my partner taking the word right away.

"See, in this car and these outfits we are senior chief inspector Winter and chief inspector Sturm, not Florian and Robin. I don't mind what's going on in our relationship for as long as I'm at work, okay?" he stated, holding his fist into my direction.

"Fair." I agreed, bumping my own fist against his and receiving the first smile of the day from him - giving the same back to him.

It worked, shoving our fight away at least for the following hours of our shift and returning to it once we were "ourselves" again. In a way, that was also very much how we were able to handle each and every fight in our relationship. Did we love each other? Definitely, living without the other was just not a thing anymore. Was it difficult? Yes, it had always been, ever since I was chained to the bed at intensive care for two weeks. We made it work, somehow. 

"I'm scared because it's so silent." Florian muttered, arms leaned onto the steering wheel while watching a handful of pedestrians leaving the calm area where we placed ourselves while waiting for a job to do.

"Moments before the storm." I chuckled, crossing my arms as I noticed some movement in the rear mirror, yet not committing to that as I concentrated on my partner starting to laugh.

"A winterstorm, Rob." he added.

I don't remember what happened right after these words left Florian's lips, only the noise of a motor starting up behind our patrol car and a split second later I felt my face hitting the front console before losing consciousness.

My eyes rushed open as I became aware of the pain all over my body, realizing that my mouth was gagged and my arms were handcuffed tightly behind my back. I was laying on what felt like a horribly cold stone floor, only dim light shining through two small windows right below the ceiling in a rather small room. I couldn't make out anything except an innocent looking metal box standing in the corner and ...

I wriggled onto my knees to get a better look around myself, ignoring the stinging pain in my face and my sore muscles to look at the person laying next to me.

_ Florian? _ I hummed as good as I could through the cloth, shifting over to get closer towards him, only slowly realizing what exactly I was looking at.

Florian, indeed. Handcuffed with horribly tight metal wires. Gagged with a cloth that used to be white - now dyed in the dark red color of his blood that was still flowing out of his nose. His eyes were closed while his torso was moving erratically from his uneven breaths. I felt myself tearing up as I saw my partner like this, unable to grasp what was even happening, where we were and why this all felt like a horrible fever dream of mine.

I gently tapped my knee against his hip, trying to wake him up while the tears made my vision blurry. Why.

Why us.

Why him.

I heard a grunt coming from my partner, making my heartbeat rise as I knew that he was still alive - yet we were still held tied down like animals, so I didn't know how that was helping the situation. Two shining hazel brown eyes tried to search for mine as I heard the sound of a door opening and steps approaching.  _ I am with you. _ I tried to tell him. His eyes screamed at me, screaming for help as he got hold of the situation just as much before we were interrupted by the person entering the room we were locked in.

"Move away from him, Sturm." a deep male voice growled at me and I didn't quite feel like fighting anyone in this physical state so I quickly shifted away from my partner again. Only now did I notice the blood dripping down my own nose, messing up my uniform droplet by droplet. The person approaching closed the door behind themselves, snapping on the lightbulb hanging from the ceiling. Then it came to me what was going on, how horrible both of us were injured alone from what seemed to be a car crash, how disgustingly we were tied up like pigs ready to butcher and who out of all seven billion people on the world did this to us - Matteo Pilkc.

I growled as I saw his face, always knowing that he wasn't as clean as he was supposed to be as a policeman, let alone an inspector. Matteo was never the nicest colleague, most times I happened to end up together with him were uncomfortable and unenjoyable - and I usually got along with all my colleagues.

A police inspector abducting two of his own colleagues ...

My gaze rushed over to Florian, who now began visibly shaking and cramping up. My heart stung as I saw my partner like this, unable to comfort him, let alone help him and get him out of here.

"It's been long enough for you two, and most of all you, Winter. My plan is flawless, nobody will ever catch up on me doing this to you. Don't even think about getting out of here ever again, your life ended the moment you woke up this morning, in your filthy bed." Matteo chuckled, playing with a knife he pulled out of his belt sometime during his speech.

"Are you scared of me?" he asked with a jokingly soft voice, leaning down into Florian's direction. My partner was trembling, tears and blood flowing onto the floor as he somehow tried to free his arms - only letting the wire cut deeper into his wrists.

"You should be, faggot." Matteo grinned, spitting into Florian's face. Not with me, I thought as I tried to build myself up, growling at him.

"And what are you?" he raised his brows at me, pushing me back onto the ground while flicking out his knife again.  _ No fear, Robin. Don't show any fear. _

I shouted at him through the cloth, which obviously didn't work and neither did it intimidate him in any way as he now pressed the blade against my upper leg, staring me down with his ugly icy, almost white, eyes.

"One single noise coming from any of you and I will get rid of your limbs one by one." he hissed, the knife now cutting through the uniform to injure my skin below it. I bit onto the cloth to bear the burning pain that was someone at full will cutting into your leg.

"Do you understand?" he added, pressing harder until the blood almost soaked the whole leg. I nodded, begging on the inside that he would stop which he also did. I didn't dare to look at the wound he caused me, my gaze rather went over to Florian who had watched the whole scene and now shared eye contact with me. Matteo should've covered our eyes, not our mouths as me and my boyfriend were perfectly trained in conversation without spoken words. Did he forget that he abducted policemen?

_ He is insane. _ My partner said. I nodded, checking in on Matteo who now made his way out of the room again, smashing the door shut behind him.

_ Are you okay? _ Florian added, looking at the cut over my leg. I nodded once again, gulping as I eyed the gaping wound which wouldn't stop bleeding in the near future either.

_ We have to get out of here. _ I stated, checking the surroundings once again but obviously nothing to help an escape appeared all of a sudden.

_ I am scared.  _ Florian repeated, over and over again. He was never a person to ever be scared of anything, yet being abducted also didn't happen on a daily basis.

Even less by a policeman, who knew exactly which mistakes to avoid, how to organize everything and cover the whole crime almost perfectly.

\---

14:32 - Matteo returns, shouts at Florian while threatening Robin with his knife continuously

14:35 - Matteo starts kicking Florian in the face repeatedly and doesn't even stop when Florian's cries are loud enough to be heard through the cloth

14:58 - Robin makes friends with the knife again, getting continuously cut over his legs while being threatened that his arms will be next

15:29 - Matteo excuses himself, his nightshift will soon start and he will gladly join the search for Florian and Robin

15:32 - Silence. Darkness.

\---

I had faced the End twice in my young life, yet what felt in these seconds, minutes, hours was so much worse in every possible way. I wished myself back to the gunshot injury two years ago, that felt much more endurable than this state of torture and pain. I heard Florian crying.

There was absolutely nothing I could do against the sound of a man losing his mind right next to me. I couldn't move from the pain I endured, all I could do was searching for my partner's eyes once again but there wasn't much of a conversation going on this time - let alone that it became way too dark to even see each other's pupils. I flinched as I thought back to the day I got shot, how much Florian must've cried while I was laying unconscious. It was horrible to witness, even if I wasn't the cause of it. Did this very moment made me promise myself to never make my partner cry again because of unnecessary fights, behavior or dumb mistakes? Definitely, as I wished that we would be saved out of this torture chamber. I fell asleep sometime after listening to Florian's sobs for another while. Well, maybe I also passed out, I wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

\---

09:36 - Matteo walks into the room and snaps the light on, half of the floor is covered in dried blood from the two victims

09:40 - Matteo wakes up Robin with a kick into that one's face, triggering another nosebleed

09:47 - Matteo walks over to the metal box in the corner, grabbing a metal baseball bat to swing it around majestically

\---

"Shall we wake up your sweetheart, huh?" Matteo grinned at me, I began shaking. Why Florian, it circled in my head, why him and not me. I could endure pain that was out of this world, ever since I ended up in intensive care for the first time, almost 20 years ago. My partner wasn't as scarred as I was, which I was glad about but now he had to pay a price he wasn't able to.

Matteo circled the bat in the air one last time before he slammed it down onto Florian's left shoulder with full force. I flinched as the horrible sound of metal clashing against bone reached my ears, followed by cries of pain that made me dizzy only from hearing.

I didn't dare to look at Florian. I knew that he needed me but my heart would've stopped beating otherwise.

"This is for ranking up sitting on your lazy ass while I work day and night staying an inspector." Matteo growled in a horribly aggressive tone, followed by another hit with the bat and Florian screaming for his life. I felt the tears rolling down my cheeks like a waterfall while I stared at the red concrete, trying to think of better days.

"This is for being one of the most annoying people walking around on this world." Matteo continued shouting, hitting over and over against my partner's shoulder until he couldn't even cry anymore, being startled by a pain that must be worse than being burned alive.

"An this ... is for infesting our inspection with both of your disgusting mindset that two men being in a relationship is somehow okay. Absolutely disgusting, I want to vomit every time I look at you two. You too, Sturm." he let go of Florian who seemingly wasn't moving anymore, now looking at me. Only hesitatingly I raised my gaze, shaking and still crying about literally everything that was happening.

"You're miserable. You should've died with that bullet in your shoulder. For the better good, now you keep on living disfigured like this." Matteo stated, creepily calm before he let the bat drop onto the ground just to flick out the knife again. Little did he know that I had been disfigured for all my life, that I proudly wore my scars and saw them as an enrichment, not something bad.

"Remember that your arms will be next, time to let that happen, huh?" he hissed, pushing me face first onto the floor to have better access to my arms being tied behind my back.

I let my gaze rise, looking into the pair of pretty brown eyes I loved so much.

_ Florian. _ I hummed.  _ I love you. _ I tried to make him understand. He didn't reply, being focused on Matteo who now started ripping open my arms from top to bottom. I didn't even feel the pain anymore, for as long as I was looking at Florian, whose face was now only a few centimeters away from mine.

I felt cold. Florian wasn't sobbing as the night before, but I heard him breathing. Under struggle I wriggled myself over to my partner, now feeling the tip of his nose against mine. Almost as if he knew exactly what I needed, he wrapped his legs around me, as good as it was possible, to pull me close. We could've even kissed in this position, without the cloths keeping us from it, but the most important thing was that I could see his eyes once again from this up close and he could see mine ... and we were just looking at each other for a moment. A single moment in which the world seemed to be okay.

_ My shoulder is crushed. _ Florian huffed as he tried to show it to me, the pain cradling his whole body once again.

_ I can't feel my arms anymore. _ I replied, receiving a nod from my partner.

_ I will not survive tomorrow. _ Florian said.

_ Stay strong. _ I muttered, the tears filling up my eyes again.  _ We can do this. _

_ I try my best. _ my partner began sobbing, pulling me as close as he could.

When would this nightmare end ...

\---

11:03 - Matteo enters the room

11:05 - Matteo grabs the metal baseball bat

\---

"DROP THE WEAPON! I DARE YOU!" an outstanding and familiar voice rang inside of my head, with effort I raised my head to see what was happening in the doorway of the room.

A fight. Policeman against Policeman.

A gunshot.

I felt the handcuffs being removed from my back, almost immediately I regained my strength to remove whatever was gagging me and to crawl over towards Florian who wasn't paying attention to the happenings at all. I stared into Moritz' eyes as he removed the handcuffs and cloth from my partner.

"Help me. His shoulder." I croaked with my dry and bloodied mouth, using all my strength to pull Florian onto his legs, our colleague supporting the stance while we rushed outside into the sun, collapsing onto a patch of grass just outside of what seemed to be ... an allotment garden?

"I'll get the doc." Moritz hissed, leaving the side of me and my partner.

"R- ... Rob ...?" Florian muttered, digging his fingers into my bleeding arms as he found them while trying to see something in the glistening sunshine.

"We're safe, we're okay." I huffed, brushing my hands through his filthy dark hair.

"Oh." he chuckled, first out loud, becoming quieter with every "heh" that left his lips.

"Flo?" I exclaimed.

Florian didn't react anymore.

"Florian!" I shouted, grabbing his cheeks with my palms to get at least something from him ...

_ I did not survive hell on earth to have you dying on me. You did not endure this whole torture to leave this place once survived. _

_ Do you even know how to fight death himself, you have never faced him before, you don't know what it takes to escape from him, to slip through his fingers and keep on living. _

_ You can do this. You have the strength. If your strength isn't enough take mine. I'd rather spend a lifetime with you than keep on living without you. _

I pressed my lips onto his, trembling fingers holding his face in place when all the pressure fell off my chest and I began crying. Not because I was hurt, not because there was blood literally everywhere - because this was about Florian needing to stay alive.

I hated these white ceilings so much. It had never been a joy to wake up in a hospital bed but I could see right away that I was laying in a regular room, not intensive care, which was already much more calming. My arms and legs felt numb, a giant itchy band aid covered my nose and I wasn't even talking about the headache I had yet.

"Hey." I heard a soft voice coming from my right side, making me shudder. I wasn't alone? Carefully I moved my neck until I could see who was interrupting my train of thoughts.

"Hi." I whispered back, smiling as I saw that my partner was just as much patched up as I was. Florian laid on his right side, his face too wrapped up almost entirely and a really uncomfortable looking bandage keeping his left shoulder tightly in place.

"What's going on even?" I muttered, rubbing my fingers over the non-injured part of my forehead.

"Let's find out, I haven't asked either." Florian chuckled, pressing the small red button attached to his bed. I felt so incredibly exhausted, I knew that this feeling came from once again laying on a surgery desk, just hours ago.

A nurse stepped into our room, noting that we are awake and telling us to wait until she gets the doctor. I took these handful of minutes to look at my partner again.

"I'm shocked that we can talk only using our eyes. I wasn't aware that we are this good at it." I stated, raising my brows.

"Well, we practice often enough." Florian began chuckling under visible pain but not caring about that, making me too out a few short laughs until I heard the door opening once again and the doctor was stepping inside.

"Mister Sturm, Mister Winter. Good to see you both awake. My name's Hoffmann, we might know each other already, I remember the outstanding sun-shaped scar on your right shoulder." the doctor smiled, pointing at me.

"Correct, two years ago." I huffed. He had been the same doctor that cut the countless shards of the splintered bullet out of my shoulder, causing the unusual shape of my scarring from the surgery.

"Good, who of you two wants to start?" he continued, unlocking the tablet he held in his hands.

"Him." Florian muttered before I could even process the doctor's words.

"Alright then, Mister Sturm. You've been brought to us with a fractured nose, countless cuts all over your limbs and the usual bruises that come from being abducted. You're policemen, I don't have to go into detail about your wrists and similar." doctor Hoffmann explained, I nodded silently.

"Now to you, mister Winter." he continued, taking a deep breath before explaining what exactly was wrong with my partner. I could feel his heartbeat through the room as the doctor spoke, Florian was tense ... and scared.

"A non-fatal traumatic brain injury, a fractured nose, a handful fractured ribs, a prominent black eye on the right, bruises from being abducted." he muttered, placing the tablet onto the table behind him. "And your shoulder, mister Winter."

"What's with my shoulder?" Florian asked, his voice shaking.

"I had never, in all my years as a doctor, seen a shoulder being fractured like this. We reconstructed everything, screwed you back together and your left shoulder now mainly consist of metal and synthetic substances. It looks promising, yet we will have to watch the healing process. I can't say anything more about it at this point." he stated, crossing his arms.

"Oh ... okay." Florian sighed, nervously trying to find words to say but failing.

"Take your time. If you need something, you know where the button is." doctor Hoffmann nodded, rushing out of the room to leave us in painful silence.

Florian was staring at me, processing the sentences which were still hanging in the air. I reached out my arm, hoping that our beds were standing close enough to give us the chance of at least minimal body contact. My partner hesitated for a few moments before too trying to grab my hand, succeeding to entwine our fingers.

"You're warm." I whispered as I brushed my thumb over the back of his hand.

"What did you do, back when you dragged me out of that room? I felt so small ... when you held me in your arms. It was cold ... dark ... and then I felt something like a hand on my shoulder, pulling me away from the warm light that formed in front of me. Next thing I remember is waking up in this bed after hours of silence and deep night." my partner explained his thoughts, I felt how his hand began trembling again. I had to out a chuckle, squeezing his fingers.

"You've died, Florian." I muttered "Right there, in my arms. It was death that you met. You fought him, slipped away from him, kept on living." I felt myself tearing up again. I was never a person to cry on a daily basis but this whole situation was obviously more than just overwhelming.

"I ... have been dead?" he stuttered, a pair of terrified eyes staring into mine.

I nodded, letting go of his hand again. I needed to sleep, I couldn't keep myself awake anymore.

"Oh my god." Florian was heard muttering before I fell asleep, drifting off into a surprising comfortable dream about my partner and me - what else.

Sleepily I opened my eyes as I heard people entering the hospital room, seeing two people in dark blue clothing now standing in front of the beds of me and my partner.

"Glad to see you both in one piece. Micha told us to brief you both." Paul's voice reached my ears and I pushed myself a little bit upwards so I could overlook the situation. Florian was just putting away his phone, the two policemen standing in front of us were obviously Paul and Stephan, at which I smiled widely as I spotted him.

"Hey, little bro." he grinned at me, making me feel all warm inside.

"Don't worry about any testimonies, our "colleague" is safely buried somewhere he can't escape anymore. We're just here to tell you what happened, and maybe checking on you both." the black haired said and I leaned back into my pillows. I heard an agreeing sigh coming from Florian, I haven't checked on how he was doing yet.

"Moritz and Arne found your patrol car crashed between a concrete wall and what probably used to be a transporter. It was really messy, none of us ever had seen this much blood inside of a patrol car. We began searching for you two immediately, never in seven hells imagining that the bad guy was right in front of us. To make it short, this tall gentleman over here picked up things Pilkc probably never meant to communicate and the moment Moritz and Jonas spotted that crushed transporter at a used-car seller we had the track." Paul explained, patting his colleagues shoulder, who continued the story.

"We stormed that small allotment garden, Jonas all up in front when Matteo began attacking our little inspector with this metal bat thing. My finger never went faster to pull the trigger and it was a clean shot through his little ape brain. Only afterwards I saw what exactly was going on in the room you both were locked in ... I almost vomited, it's a wonder you both are still alive. I'm glad you are, would've never gotten over losing both of you." Stephan stated, giving me and my partner a well meant smile.

"Thank you, both of you." I outed, nodding at my colleagues.

"And the others, all those who cared enough." Florian added, now too fighting out a tiny smile.

I almost felt like a grandpa as the nurses were pushing my partner and me through the hospital in wheelchairs, yet it was still somewhat of a relief to be able to breathe through my nose again. Florian and I looked quite odd with similar bruises and stitches over our faces, but that was the smallest problem we had. Getting your nose broken is a must being a policeman, after all.

While I could almost effortlessly sit down on my bed by myself, Florian needed the help of both nurses and even then he was still audibly struggling under pain. It broke my heart to see him like this, every time he had to get out of his bed.

He was concentrating on breathing evenly as we were left alone in our room again and I carefully stepped over to sit down next to him on the mattress, gently brushing my hand over his torso.

"I feel horrible." he whined out, looking at me with glassy eyes as my palm wandered all the way carefully over his bandage and wrapped up collar bone to arrive at his neck, caressing his short, dark beard with my thumb.

"It will get better, trust me." I whispered, feeling Florian's hand carefully hovering over my leg.

"Please ..." my partner huffed, his eyes longing for mine and I knew right away what he wanted. I tried to support my body as good as I could with my left arm while my right hand still cupped his cheek, leaning down to feel his cold and wet lips against mine, short yet loving.

"You look pretty with that bruise over your nose. I love you." Florian chuckled as we parted for a moment, making me grin at him.

"Look at yourself, supermodel really having the look with his nose and his eye. I love you, too." I exclaimed, closing the distance between us again to cover us in a longer, deeper kiss to share on this uncomfortable hospital bed. I loved the feeling of his beard scratching against my stubbles, the way he perfectly knew what to do with his tongue to make me melt and just the mere fact that I was kissing my partner again for the first time in a week.

"I'm sorry." Florian murmured as we parted for good, remaining to hold hands still.

"For what?" I chuckled.

"The fight. I was mad at you for no reason, you don't deserve getting shit for no reason." he looked guilty, avoiding my gaze. I continued faintly laughing, shaking my head as he dared to look back into my eyes.

"We have been abducted, broke several of our bones, survived by a hair and now lay in hospital and you still think about that fight?" I couldn't believe that this was an issue he still thought about, something that didn't even matter anymore.

"You're right, I guess."

I stood leaned against the wall with my back, feeling all the stitches over my body itching so I was glad to have them taken out the following day. I was watching how the nurse helped the doctor remove the bandage from Florian's arm, I had been allowed to be with my partner for this check-up of his shoulder, somehow I could feel that this wasn't a regular appointment but something more life-changing.

I flinched as they made it to remove his shirt under pain, revealing skin covered in deep red, almost black looking spots and all in all this was everything but nice to look at. I could see that my partner already stood on the brink of crying as he saw what was going on with his left side, yet he tried to stay strong.

"Don't be repulsed by the color, after all we basically had to switch out your whole shoulder bones. Now let me take a closer look ..." mister Hoffmann murmured as he began inspecting the giant bruise, shoving and pushing Florian's shoulder erratically around, causing him to endure even more pain than he already had. I felt so bad for him. So bad for Florian ...

"Alright, mister Winter." the doctor sighed, sitting down on his small stool.

"I don't want to be the person who has to open it up to you but ... with this shoulder you are in no way able to work in active patrol duty. Nothing is lost, although rehabilitation is perfectly possible, I'm afraid you will need up to a year, maybe even two years to regain the strength you need for active patrol duty. I am sorry, mister Winter."

It was dead silent in the room.

I stared at my partner, not quite processing yet what exactly was going on but seeing the tears rolling down his face told me enough to understand that his world busted into a million shards in this exact moment.

Florian cried, he cried on even hours after the appointment. He laid curled up in his bed, staining the sheets with his tears as he kept on crying and I didn't know what to do. I walked over to his bed again, giving him my hand to squeeze out his anger and emotions.

"Is this what I deserve? Once I arrived at the point where I have everything I ever wished for? Having my dream being taken away from me like this?" he rambled through his sobs, I decided to listen to him rather than try talking him out of it.

"It wasn't even heroic or something, I laid on the ground crying as my dreams were shattered, and now I am crying again, like the helpless and useless baby I am." he continued.

"Nothing is lost, as the doctor said." I hummed, hitting a rock wall with my words.

"Everything is lost. You're not the person with a synthetic shoulder, you're not the person who got beaten up for absolutely no reason, the person with crushed dreams and hopes. I'm glad you can leave the hospital tomorrow, I'll keep on rotting in here while I search for a new profession!" Florian barked at me, slapping my hand away. I wasn't angry at him, he had all reasons to be shattered like this and I knew that I couldn't make it much better.

"We can make it work, Flo." I tried it again, now being pushed off the entire bed, followed by pained cries of my partner.

"Leave me alone, make it work with somebody else but just leave me alone!" he hissed at me, continuing crying while curling up again. I sighed, grabbing my phone to send out two messages. One to Michael. One to our psychologist.

I was surprised to see my partner walking all by himself, slowly entering his hospital room after an hour of waiting from my side. The bed that used to be mine had already been neatly covered with plastic bags, ready for the next patient that would need it. I was still allowed to visit my partner anytime, just like now as I waited for him while our police-psychologist did his magic on him. I was busy checking on the scars on my arms as I heard a soft "Hey, you're still here." from Florian, who slumped down onto his bed, exhausted from the walk. At least his pain became less with each day, soon he wouldn't even need the bandage anymore and even sooner I could take him home with me again.

"Promised I would be, love." I nodded.

"Come over, please." he invited me to place myself next to him, which I gladly did - carefully wrapping my right arm around him while entwining my free hand with his.

"You said we could make it work." he muttered, staring at the greyish floor while brushing his thumb over the back of my hand.

"We definitely can. If you're willing to go to rehabilitation regularly Michael will give you a premium spot at the department, until you're healthy for the road again." I gave my partner a gentle smile, leaning my forehead against his temple, closing my eyes.

"You're so fast at sorting everything out, almost as if you think ..." he hummed, being interrupted by me.

"... that you can't be anything else than a policeman. You're a senior chief inspector, you didn't climb this mountain to easily slide down like this already again. We can make it work, yes." I repeated myself, now pressing my lips onto his cheek.

"If you say so." Florian huffed, now looking back up and into my face as I was done smooching him.

"It still feels like just a handful moments ago when we had our first kiss, also in a hospital bed." I chuckled, feeling my partner's forehead against mine.

"Can we please stop being in the hospital so much, I really don't enjoy this whole atmosphere." Florian shook his head before leaning in, now properly connecting our lips. I smiled into our kiss, feeling light as I knew that it was going upwards with my partner again.

I still felt sorry every time I passed my partner on my way to patrol duty, not showing my concern obviously. He seemed to take it lightly, enjoying the fact he basically shoved Michael off his high throne at our department. Asking anyone of our colleagues who they prefer as their boss, without exception would the name of my partner leave their lips. I was glad of what became of Florian, how gladly he handled the whole situation after all.

The other thing that kept cheering me up was the fact that Florian now held a star-shaped scar on his left shoulder, a small detail that seemed odd to probably every single person on this world but not to me,  _ who was wearing a sun-shaped scar on his right shoulder. _


End file.
